A major industrial labor union has launched a membership drive targeting migrant workers at Hyundai’s shipbuilding complex in Ulsan, seeking to expand its reach to tens of thousands of subcontracted workers — many of them foreign — as members prepare for new talks with the company.
A senior official at the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) said the campaign’s goal is to integrate migrants, a rapidly increasing demographic in shipyards, into the union so they can be covered by collective bargaining and formal representation.
“In many workplaces, especially in the shipyards, the number of migrant workers is growing rapidly, and they are often forced to endure poor conditions while left in a blind spot in terms of their rights,” the official told The Korea Times Monday.
2. How is this related to the sub
(1) Migrant workers’ labor right: Korean labor unions are recruiting migrant workers into their rank after media exposure revealed horrendous abuses suffered by employers.
3. My opinion
Korea’s labor unions have been interested in the rights of migrant workers for a while. They demanded the government to have migrant workers have equal rights as native Korean workers and let many join their rallies and strikes.
WalterWoodiaz on
Japan and South Korea will probably become similar to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States, where they use developing world labor for most low paying service and manufacturing work, while natives work cushy office jobs.
2 Comments
1. Summary
A major industrial labor union has launched a membership drive targeting migrant workers at Hyundai’s shipbuilding complex in Ulsan, seeking to expand its reach to tens of thousands of subcontracted workers — many of them foreign — as members prepare for new talks with the company.
A senior official at the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) said the campaign’s goal is to integrate migrants, a rapidly increasing demographic in shipyards, into the union so they can be covered by collective bargaining and formal representation.
“In many workplaces, especially in the shipyards, the number of migrant workers is growing rapidly, and they are often forced to endure poor conditions while left in a blind spot in terms of their rights,” the official told The Korea Times Monday.
2. How is this related to the sub
(1) Migrant workers’ labor right: Korean labor unions are recruiting migrant workers into their rank after media exposure revealed horrendous abuses suffered by employers.
3. My opinion
Korea’s labor unions have been interested in the rights of migrant workers for a while. They demanded the government to have migrant workers have equal rights as native Korean workers and let many join their rallies and strikes.
Japan and South Korea will probably become similar to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States, where they use developing world labor for most low paying service and manufacturing work, while natives work cushy office jobs.
(Even more so than already)